AstraZeneca sells part of antibiotics unit to Pfizer

British drugs giant AstraZeneca on Wednesday agreed to sell part of its antibiotics business to US giant Pfizer for up to $1.6 billion (1.4 billion euros).

The deal for the company's small-molecule antibiotics, or those developed using traditional chemistry, is expected to complete in the fourth quarter, AstraZeneca said in a statement.

The news comes days after Pfizer bought San Francisco-based biotech firm Medivation, which specialises in cancer treatments, for $14 billion.

Pfizer has been an aggressive and not always successful architect of large deals over the last couple of years.

Back in 2014, AstraZeneca had rejected a $116-billion takeover bid from Pfizer after a lengthy unsolicited courtship.

And in April 2016, Pfizer axed a proposed $160-billion merger with Allergan after the US Treasury set new rules designed to block cross-border deals that are structured to avoid US taxes.